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In 100 days—on December 14, 2020—a magnificent totality comparable to 2017’s ‘Great American Eclipse’ will sweep across South America in 24 spell-binding minutes.
For 2 minutes 9 seconds, from locations in Chile and Argentina under the 56 miles/90 kilometres wide shadow of the Moon, a grand totality will send shivers across the skin—and down the spines—of eclipse-chasers from across the world gathered close to Pucón, Chile and south of Neuquén in Patagonia, Argentina.
Or, at least, that was the plan until you-know-what cast a long shadow over international travel. It threatens to turn one of the celestial highlights of 2020 into a “Great Domestic South American Eclipse.”
“We had an eclipse cruise planned with Holland America to take us to the Chilean fjords, Antarctic peninsula, and to view the eclipse off the Argentine coast,” said Santa Fe, New Mexico-based Michael Zeiler, a map and globe-maker who runs the eclipse website GreatAmericanEclipse.com. “Now we have no plans to see this December's eclipse because of the COVID risks involved—we don't want to subject ourselves to long distance travel with the chance of being exposed to the virus.”
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It will be the first total solar eclipse Zeiler has missed since 2010. He won’t be alone among eclipse-chasers in following this one online.
Totality from the "Great American Eclipse in 2017 from Bethpage, Tennessee.
For the record, I have flight tickets and I am still planning to go, with many travel agents and independent eclipse-chasers waiting to see what happens. After all, both Chile and Argentina are on the cusp of opening their borders to international travelers.
However, some high-profile eclipse tour groups have already been canceled. One is Prescott, Arizona-based TravelQuest, which has been running total solar eclipse tours and astronomy-themed travel for over 20 years.
“We cancelled our 2020 eclipse trips to Argentina and Chile because we were just not seeing the virus subside around the world like we all hoped it would,” said Aram Kaprielian, President and Founder of TravelQuest. “The current COVID-19 situation in the USA certainly did not help. Add to that the COVID-19 situation in South America and ultimately the decision to cancel, for us, was actually an easy one for us to make.”
Kaprielian himself had planned to join his company’s Chile land tour including the Atacama Desert and Torres del Paine. “It was to have been my 18th total solar eclipse,” he said. “It’s disappointing.”
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Etymologically speaking, it’s ironic that an eclipse is being affected by a coronavirus. The real prize for eclipse-chasers during totality is to get a brief, but heart-wrenchingly beautiful view of the the Sun’s magnificent corona—the hotter, outer part of the Sun’s atmosphere that’s usually hidden by its glare. Corona is Latin for crown, though it’s actual named after Spanish astronomer José Joaquín de Ferrer, who coined the term. The corona in coronavirus comes from the appearance of the virus under a microscope; its surface resembles the solar corona.
Talking of science, 2020’s total solar eclipse has not yet been struck-off by solar physicists. “We still have our group’s and scientific team’s reservations on the Atlantic coast of Argentina, and we continue to prepare and upgrade our scientific equipment,” said Jay Pasachoff, Professor of Astronomy at Williams College, Massachusetts, who’s witnessed no less than 67 total solar eclipses. “But we are dependent on admission to Argentina, and I just don’t know what the situation will be in December … I’m not confident, but I hold onto diminishing hope.”
Pasachoff has seen or worked on every total solar eclipse since 1966, except for 1976, and every eclipse of all types for at least a decade until COVID-19 prevented him from seeing June 21, 2020’s annular solar eclipse. That didn’t prevent him from collecting observations from fellow scientists in the path of totality through Asia that day.
“I am a professional solar astronomer, so my main regret would be missing the scientific return from the 2020 total solar eclipse, and the gap in our continuity of studying the shape of the corona over the sunspot cycle,” said Pasachoff.
However, there’s two things about total solar eclipses we can be sure of; they will happen and they will be experienced by those who live in, or can travel to, the path of totality, and there’s always another total solar eclipse.
After Chile and Argentina has enjoyed—and, hopefully, broadcast live—their second total solar eclipse in 532 days, the next total solar eclipse will occur on December 4, 2021 somewhat further south in the Southern Ocean off Antarctica.
Think cruise ships. Think vaccines. “We are booked on an Antarctic cruise for December 2021 and do have some confidence in that trip given the likelihood of either a vaccine or effective therapeutics by then,” said Zeiler.
Can the travel industry envisage handling events like a total solar eclipse in a remote corner of the world? “As doom and gloom as the travel industry appears right now we at TravelQuest remind ourselves of our industry’s resilience after September 11, and the financial meltdown in 2008,” said Kaprielian. “Seeing and experiencing the wonders of this amazing planet and the heavens above is what drives us to develop our very specialized group tours.”
How group tours will need to change in a post-COVID-19 world is an unknown, and the travel industry is taking it one day at a time.
All we do know is a total solar eclipse will occur before lunch on December 14, 2020, and eclipse-chasers from South America—and hopefully beyond—will find a way to make a pilgrimage to be part of one of the greatest experiences our planet has to offer.
Disclaimer: I am the editor of WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com and author of Total Solar Eclipse 2020: A travel and field guide to observing totality in Chile and Argentina on December 14, 2020
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
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